I don’t really use Google+ very often, and neither do a lot of my friends – it’s a great concept in theory, but it honestly hasn’t quite taken off the way Google had originally hoped it would. However, I do use the Google+ app on my HTC EVO 4G LTE for one very important task: I have it set up to automatically upload every single photo I take to a private album in Google+/Picasa, which is then accessible to any other internet-connected device I own.
So, for instance, I can log in to either Google+ or Picasa on my laptop at home, and then view every single photo I’ve taken with my phone – and even download the ones I want to edit or transfer somewhere else. This private Instant Upload album is also automatically synced to the stock Android Gallery app on my ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity, so I can view a slideshow on my tablet while listening to Spotify and drinking wine on my front porch. (Yes, I’m speaking from experience.)
The only problem is, it’s not easy to share photos from Google+ to Facebook. I either have to download the picture to my computer and then upload it to Facebook, or I have to upload it manually from my phone through the Facebook app. There’s nothing automatic or seamless about that.
Enter Instant Upload for Facebook. This is an app that purports to bring Google+ functionality to Facebook users on Android. Here’s how it works: the app will instantly upload all photos you take on your phone to a private album in Facebook. You can set it to upload over 3G, or to wait until it’s got a WiFi connection, and privacy isn’t an issue since the Instant Upload album on Facebook is automatically set to private.
This app will automatically put all your photos within easy reach on Facebook, but there’s still one caveat: you’ll have to log in to your Facebook account from a desktop computer and manually move the photos you want to share to another, non-private album. Alternately, you could just change the privacy settings for your Instant Upload album, but I wouldn’t recommend that.
Google+, on the other hand, allows you to share individual photos from your Instant Upload album without moving them or making the whole album public. The only problem is, no one will ever see them on Google+. So, while this Facebook solution isn’t quite perfect, it will do until Facebook either incorporates similar functionality into its own app, or makes it a bit easier to share individual photos from private albums.
Download: Google Play
I have also started with Google+ instant upload – I quite liked the fact my pictures are always ready for sharing/editing.
But I stopped using it when Dropbox added its Camera Upload, which I think is one of the best services – and if somebody asks me why is Android better than competing platforms, availability of this service is one of my first arguments.
The fact that every photo I take is instantly uploaded to Dropbox, and synced to ALL my devices is simply amazing. So unless you share all your pictures on Facebook, I don’t see a reason to to use anything different than Dropbox Camera Upload feature.
I couldn’t agree more. I liked Google+ upload, but Dropbox is so much more friendly with having the actual picture file on the computer directly.
And, the 25GB bump, while only for two years, is a pretty sweet deal.
Whenever I see people talk about why they don’t use google + it always goes in a loop.
Nobody uses it because nobody joins
Nobody joins because nobody uses it.
You just have top be the trend setter and commit to freedom from Facebook!
Do you know if Google+ is uploading the full resolution photos from your devices? If you can move photos from device to device without any loss for free, that’s a pretty nice feature.
Great review and article
I don’t think I will ever use google plus
I like google plus more and more. I really can’t stand the facebook app for android. Totally useless.
Instant Upload is a much requested feature for the Facebook app for Android. iOS has the Facebook Camera app which is much like Instagram with filters and Instant Upload. And with the introduction Facebook version 5 for iOS the app has been much faster and fluid. Facebook has commented that its working on a faster app for Android too. Here’s hoping a faster app would come out soon with features like Instant Upload and other useful features.
Till then i guess apps like Instant Upload for Facebook are our only hope.
Does anyone know if there is loss in quality?
Not sure on the loss of quality. I have sent a couple but never really looked at the quality. It did not appear to be degraded at all.